THE NEW YORKER that cutters wear. The "Summary of Employment Conditions Specified on Job Order" noted that Rhodes' em- ployer would be the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association that his period of employment was to last until April of 1983, that his hourly wage would be four sixty-nine, and that the task to be performed was to "cut sugar cane as near the base as possible on assigned rows, cut top from cane and place cane in pile row." Rhodes and nine others were board- ed at Streamline, the Osceola camp in Pahokee. He went to work the first day, which was Sunday, because he was eager to get started. He was put at the head of a row and told by a foreman to cut it. No one eXplained to him how to do it. By the time he had been given a row, the Jamaicans were far enough along in their rows so that he couldn't see how they were doing it. At the close of the day, he had cut about one- half of his task. When he got back into camp and was given his time sheet, he learned from talking to the Jamaicans that he would be paid for his partial accomplishment of the task, and not for the hours he had worked. The highest row price earned for that day by any of the Mississippi workers was eleven dollars. Row prices were between thirty and forty-four dollars, and that means that no one cut as much as half a row. The rest of the week, Rhodes cut for half a day. Work was then consid- ered completed by the supervisors. When the Jamaicans finished their rows, they were assigned the Mississip- pians' rows, so the latter made almost no money. Rhodes always cut a row next to a Jamaican, so that the Jamai- can quickly got ahead, and that meant that Rhodes had the extra difficulty of the pile row against him. On the ninth day at the task, Rhodes was told that on the following day he would be judged to see if he was up to speed, and that if he wasn't he would be fired. That day, he and the other Mis- sissippians were awakened at four by the supervisor, who told them they no longer worked for the company. Rhodes was told that someone had reported to the supervisor that he and the nine other men from Mississippi in the barracks had missed work to pick oranges. Rhodes said he hadn't, but was fired anyway. The supervisor said that since the men no longer worked for the company they would get no food for that day and would have to leave the camp by nightfall. If they were not out, the supervisor said, he would lock the barracks and call the sheriff . The nine went into town and found a room and, since they had no money, joined an orange-picking crew being assembled. When they returned to Os- ceola for their pay, Rhodes got no money, only a check stub. For his ten days' work cutting cane he had made ninety-three dollars and two cents. At the time he was interviewed, Rhodes was living in Belle Glade, picking or- anges two or three days a week, for fifteen dollars a day, and trying to raise the money to get back to Mississippi. He was to be evicted from his room in three days, because he was behind in his rent. While he was in Florida, his children were living with his mother- in-law in Mississippi, because his wife was dead. The deposition concludes, "I still need a job, and I would be willing to cut cane for the $4.69 per hour that I was originally promised." W HEN the cutters leave the bus for the fields in the morning, the stars are out. On the horizon in the east is a band of orange as straight and precise as the inlay on a piece of furni- ture. They use the exits at the front and the back, holding their cutlasses before them in order to keep their eyes on the blade. Some line up at the closest row, others race ahead, searching. Fog blankets the fields and the headlands, the road ahead and behind, and the ditches; it looks like mist rising from the surface of a lake, and it looks as if the fields were steaming. It is too early for birds. The only sounds are the ones the cutters make: shouts on meeting the cold, the metallic click of their shin guards as they walk, the muffled thud of the blade. By the time the pusher reads the row price from a slip of paper held up to the headlights of the bus and calls out the figure, the cutters are at work. Sweat rises from their shoulders and backs like vapor from the back of a horse. The pusher shouts, "Cut that stubble, pile that cane good. Too much stubble. Get that stubble, man. Do good work. Cut that top, man. It get you warm in a minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah." As they move down the rows, they first become shadows, then disap- pear into the mist. -ALEC WILKINSON (This is the second part of a two-part article.) 65 '\ FOR FASt ACCURATE PULSE & BLOOD PRESSUR r. EADIN ., $" .... .# , '< .þ # 'Y " ... " ':'" .f :.: J Perfect for the health-conscious person. The portable Blood Pressure Monitor measures systolic and diastolic pressure and pulse, sim- ply by putting your index finger in sensor ring. Made of high-impact plastic, runs on AAA batteries (includedJ. Comes with a one-year $ 145 00 warranty. #8130 + 55 shIpping costs SRT STRONG RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY INC Member of Better Business Bureau Credit card orders, call 1-800-361-9603,24 hrs/ 7 days a week. In Canada, Alaska, and for Informa- tion call collect (514) 393-1779 Cheque or money order, please send to SRT U.S.A., 730 Fifth Ave. 9th Floor, N.Y., N.Y. 10019. RUCKSACK ENVY ---, '" ! - - ' \ 'r - \ u . I -"' l I . _ .1 I ,- _c':';: ) IJ ---- . That's what you'll æuse every b.rne you carry yom Ellington Rucksack. People may even try to buy it off yom back. Its tailored lines will never go out of fashion. Hand- crafted from top grain water re- sistant cowhide Pnce: $185.()()We Pay ShIpping. Color: Natural. Infonnation AvaIlable Call 800. 736-1222 · FAX 206- 782-5455 or vvrite: Ellington Rucksack Co. · 4735 Shilshole Ave., Seattle W A 98107 USA · Free Shipping in USA VISA/Mastercard. Okay · With 2 Guarantees ADIRONDACK CHAIRS Handcrafted from the finest hardwood TEAK.. MAHOGANY, BIRCH To request a FREE CAT.ALCXJ.. call or write: ClassIc Country Chairs 710 So. Sprtng Street Northfield, MN 55057 (507) 645-9070 An Architectural Gem! AGECROFT HAll: it's England revisited. Brought from Britain in 1926, this Tudor Manor House is now a Museum, an Anglophile's delight, a MUST when you visit Richmond, Virginia. $2 admission includes film and guided tour. For a color brochure: send self-ad- ;ttJ1 _11 '_ dressed stamped envelope to .c--'ÄI:I '0-,., . AGECROFT HAll ' _.!! ;,ta..r. I.;,t. . a.r A .I. iI f I 1"Ç1I1" II,. II LI 4305 Sulgrave Rd. " JI' ill"i e'JI ( Richmond, VA 23221 ._J _ I .. .. - - ".